MSNBC cancels Muslim bigot's show

https://www.foxnews.com/media/msnbc-...hasans-program

MSNBC has cancelled the show of Mehdi Hasan after learning of his very bigoted remarks from years ago.

In 2009, Hasan compared non-Muslims to "animals" and linked homosexuals to "pedophiles" and "sexual deviants."

In 2019 he apologized for the hateful remarks. But clearly an apology is not enough.

Good to see MSNBC cancel his show but he should be completely banned from the network, which he is not. He will still appear as a guest and analyst.

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Kissinger dead

Snarky remarks will inevitably follow.

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Audit videos - filming in public

Maybe some of you are familiar with it.
Public audit videos on youtube.
I wonder what your opinion is - about the auditors and also about the reactions they get?

For those who are unaware:
Members of the public (auditors) film on sidewalks or go into public offices and film their interactions or reactions they get. They often make a FOIA requests in public offices. Sometimes the public servants react cordial, sometimes they bark orders like 'you can't film here' or 'you need my permission to film me' etc.. Sometimes they also call the cops. Cops usually educate the employees when they arrive. But sometimes even the cops aren't aware of the laws about public photography and threaten the auditor with an illegal trespass or arrest.

As far as I understand from those videos, members of the public are free to film anything they can see in public (in the USA). There is no expectation of privacy in public. This also includes public lobbies and areas of public buildings or public offices. Such offices often have signs saying 'no filming' on doors etc.. But that's just their policy. But the law trumps any policy. A policy can't or shouldn't be enforced by law enforcement officers, against the law they swore to protect. They are law enforcement, not policy or feelings enforcement.

Although I'm probably not on the same political spectrum as most of the auditors supposedly are, I like to watch their videos from time to time and find the reactions they get quite interesting. The bad reactions range from being hilarious and laughable to very disturbing. The latter is often the case when employees gang-up on the auditor and make false claims or straight lies, especially in front of the police, exaggerating the situation or trying to incite other members of the public or other employees against the auditor, all while they know very well that their behavior is documented on camera. And not only on the auditor's camera, but also CCTV which is often installed inside public buildings and offices.

Just two examples here by 'Audit Them'. Although I don't want to promote a single auditor, it happens to be just the most recent videos that I remember. Each one as an exemplary for very positive and very negative reaction. I watch quite a few other channels/auditors as well:

Positive:
[YT]ItyYe6kCmok[/YT]

Negative, despicable clerk...:
[YT]WEmg3nUotmU[/YT]

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IDF is responsible for the Oct 7 Killings

Apparently some folks belief this. Apparently some of the locals in in Oakland used it as reason to argue against condemning Hamas in the recent Oakland City Council meeting.


We also talk about why a City in CA feels like they need to say something about this but I'm more interested in how widespread this belief is.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/wa...as/ar-AA1kJlQf

To be clear, this wasn't said by a council person but by a concerned citizen. Anyone who's been to a local government meeting knows that just about any kind of nut will show up.

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Another crash involving V-22 Osprey

In Japan, Okinawa in particular, these aircraft seem to have a very bad reputation concerning safety. Now there is a report of yet another crash:

At least one dead as US Osprey aircraft crashes off coast of Japan

Quote:

The government of Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture asked the US military stationed on the island chain to ground all Ospreys following the crash. “Given the concerns over the danger of Ospreys, as such unexpected incident became a reality, the only thing I can say is I regret it very much,” Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki told reporters at a news conference Wednesday. It is the latest crash to involve an Osprey military aircraft, with numerous accidents reported over the years.

Is its poor reputation deserved? Why does this keep happening?

It's one of the things Okinawans are always complaining about, and here is yet another incident that reinforces that perception.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accide...he_V-22_Osprey

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"Hallmarks of Creation" vs. Actual Signs of Artificial Products

I am about to do a sequel of sorts to one my early SkeptiCamp presentations; going into what an Intelligently Designed life form would actually look like, as opposed to the evolved life forms we are used to seeing. I wanted to cover the difference between what Creationists think artificial objects are like, vs. what they are actually like. I figured I would post this, in case anyone reminds me of something to add.

Here is a short list of "Hallmarks of Intelligent Design" creationists like to claim, along with a brief counterpoint about them:

1. Sheer Complexity, to the point of appearing Irreducible!
Counter-Points: Computer programs can show such features emerging from evolutionary processes. And, the theory ignores the concept of co-option, anyway.

2. Claims of Optimum Design
Counter-Points: Designs really aren't very optimal: our eyesight, for example, is quite weak compared to some other animals, due to its "design" flaws.

3. Information/Language/Code of DNA
Counter-Point: We have well developed ideas for how DNA could emerge naturally (see various abiogenesis-related ideas). And, it is not even a very good language. For one thing, it is very heavily dependent on its medium.

4. Man-Centered Features
Counter-Points: A lot of examples of this are actually from artificially selected life forms. See also Douglas Adams' point about the rain puddle believing it was specifically designed to fit into the hole it found itself in.

5. Extreme Similarity of Features
Contradicts point number 6.

6. Extreme Diversity of Features
Contradicts point number 5.

Here, on the other hand, are examples of Signs of Actual Artificial Creation. Note that we almost never see any of these in life forms on Earth:

1. Easily Replaceable Parts
2. Access and Maintenance Features, such as door hinges
4. Tooling Marks
5. Clearly Printed Maker Labels or Inspection Labels

And most importantly:

6. External Documents: Design diagram drafts, instruction manuals, etc.

Can anyone think of anything I missed?

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2024 Retirements

Joe Manchin

Good. Kind of a 'Know Nothing' guy.

I watched his interview on the MSNBC show Cup-o-Morning Joe with the
Hunger Games announcer. He couldn't explain why the Democratic House
members voted out the speaker of the House.

Literally, two doors down from him is the other half of congress.

Why did they bring him on the show in the first place?


Mitt Romney

Good. Although I wish he'd go quietly.

He brings up that old monstrous idea of taking the Social Security trust fund
and investing it in the market. It will fail the same way taxing wealth will fail,
because the market cannot support such a large draw on funds.

Line-Goes-Up doesn't always work, you know.

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Liz Cheney's New Book Doesn't hold back.

Liz Cheney's new book "Oath and Honor" doesn't hold back on Trump enablers.

...Donald Trump cannot succeed alone. He depends upon enablers and collaborators. Every American should understand what his enablers in Congress and in the leadership of the Republican Party were willing to do to help Trump seize power in the months after he lost the 2020 presidential election-and what they continue to do to this day."

Cheney tells of a phone call she was on with a Trump surrogate on Jan. 4, 2021 where she hears the "stark, specific planning for Dec. 6.

Cheney also says McCarthy told her that Trump knew he'd lost the election within two days and that "He knows it's over. He just needs to go through all the stages of grief."

After Cheney sees the photo of Trump and McCarthy at Mar a Lago after Jan. 6, she thought it was a fake. But she talked to McCarthy:
LC: "Mar a Lago? What the hell, Kevin?"

McC: "They're really worried.Trump's not eating, so they asked me to come see him."

LC: "What? You went to Mar a Lago because Trump's not eating?"
McC: "Yeah, he's really depressed."

Cheney wrote about a message that went around from fellow GOP colleagues who mocked him and included a clip from "Jerry McGuire where Tom Cruise tells Renee Zellwiger "You complete me."

Cheney also says that Mike Johnson was pressuring colleagues behind the scene to support Trump in what he was doing.

She writes, "As he [Rep. Mark Green (R, TN)] moved down the line, sigining his name to the pieces of paper [objecting to the electoral ballots], Green said sheepishly to no none in particular, "The things we do for the Orange Jesus."

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What is the deal with GitHub?

I don't entirely have the technical background but I completely understand its uses as a tool by coders for coders. As a method for distributing software to end users I just don't seem to get what's going on.

When it's the main means of distributing something, is the user expected to download the source code and compile it? That seems less than friendly an experience. Is there a reason not to include a simple installer, or a folder with an executable, to download?

I feel like there's something fundamental I'm misunderstanding.

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Natural remedies for tinnitus/hearing loss

Anyone used any natural remedies for tinnitus/hearing loss?

I read Ginseng has some possibly promising results.

Maybe also melatonin and Gingko?

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Windows 10 Recognizinf a DVD as ana Audio CD

As the title suggests.. I insert a DVD disk into the DVD drive and it tries to play as an Audio CD.

In this PC, it shows the drive as a "DVD Drive". On the Drive itself is has two logos

the standard "Compact Disk" logo
the "DVD Multi Player" logo

It shows the disk title as "DVD Video Recorder" (the disk was recorded on a Panasonic HDD/DVD).

No matter what program I try to play it on (VLC Media player or Windows Media Player) it tries (and fails) to play as an Audio CD.

The computer does this with all Video DVDs (commercial or home made) but the disks work fine on other computers.

If I open the Video_TS folder on the disk, it plays VOB files just fine.
I felt it must be a driver issue, so I went to Device manager (DVD Drive is listed as "hp DVD-ROM SH-116AB"

- tried to update the driver but it says the latest driver is already installed.
- uninstalled and reinstalled device

Any ideas?

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Teach history the RIGHT way! Backwards!

seriously, this should be an absolute no-brainer:

- people need to know what is going on NOW way more than they need to know about how the pyramids were build

- it's easier to start teaching from a common ground than having to establish one

- it's better to go from solid, plentiful sources to vague, few ones

- way less political and controversial, as the focus is on the past, not the future

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Calculating an effective temperature of a sphere

I've been working on this problem. I think I have the answer. But is it right?

Assume:

A1: a 3D sphere with radius R
A2: the sphere is filled uniformly with N light sources per cubic unit
A3: the luminosity of each light source is L
A4: for whatever reason, the luminosity of the source falls by (1-r/R)^2

Problem:

Using:

* R = 14 billion light years
* N = 1 light source per 1 cubic giga-light year
* L = solar luminosity * 200 billion

What is the effective temperature of the sphere?

My Answer:

0.188 K

The first thing I did is model a single light source, at the center of the sphere. Well, I actually started with a circle, and then grew it out from there. I could then move the sphere around inside the boundary of its starting position. This would tell how many watts are leaving the boundary, and more importantly, are hitting the boundary.

I did this by filling the sphere with boxes. Nothing too fancy.



Here's the 2D version if you want see, and view source:
https://mikehelland.github.io/hubble.../cmbenergy.htm

3D version, for just a single moveable sphere:
https://mikehelland.github.io/hubble...mbenergy3d.htm

Then, create a sphere of boxes around every box in the original sphere at the origin.

https://mikehelland.github.io/hubble...nergy3dall.htm

Now I have the watts reaching the boundary, which is 0.2 megawatts. That's assuming each source is 1 watt.

If I plug the rest into this:

[tex]\displaystyle T={\sqrt[{4}]{\frac {L}{4\pi R^{2}\sigma }}}[/tex]

by doing:

Code:

---

// in hundred million light years
var R = 140

// Radius in meters
const mly2mpc = 1 / 3.261564
const mpc2km = 3.08e19
var Rm = R * 100 * mly2mpc * mpc2km * 1000

var Lsol = 3.846e26
var suns = 2e11 // 200 billion suns in a galaxy


//Stefan-Boltzman constant
const sbc = 5.67e-8

T = (L * Lsol * suns / (4 * pi * sbc * Rm**2))**(1/4)

---

That gives me 0.188.

Is that right?

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Are We Alone? - AI Will Tell Us

Quote:

Scientists are training machine-learning models and designing instruments to hunt for life on other worlds.

The Biggest Questions: Are we alone in the universe?

Quote:

“I think within our lifetime we will be able to do it,” says Ravi Kopparapu, a planetary scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. “We will be able to know if there is life on other planets.”

Just add in AI.

Quote:

Why (sic) counts as life? This problem—how to definitively differentiate between life and non-life—is a perennial one, whether you’re looking at distant planets or even phenomena here on Earth. Researchers may soon receive help from algorithmic techniques that can tease out associations too complex for the human brain to fathom. In recent experiments, Robert Hazen and his colleagues took 134 living and non-living samples (including petroleum, carbon-rich meteorites, ancient fossils, and a wasp that flew into their lab), vaporized them, and spread out their chemical constituents. Roughly 500,000 different attributes were identified within each sample’s molecular makeup and run through a machine-learning program.

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The Ultimate Cosmological Question

For some unknown reason, I've been torturing myself by watching a bunch of Youtube videos showing debates between prominent theists and atheists, and I've noticed a very common retort by the theists is to claim that atheists are wrong to call for theists to demonstrate how a creator was created, because of course to them their god is outside of nature and has existed for an eternity. They claim that atheists somehow miss this important point. :rolleyes:

I have always maintained that there are either two possibilities when it comes to the 'creation' of the universe: Either
1) Matter/Energy (or even more basically, the laws of nature) have existed for eternity or outside the concept of time. OR,
2) An intelligent being has existed for eternity or outside the concept of time.

That seems to sum up the nature of the argument to me nicely, because of course the theists are drawn towards the second conclusion since it comforts them, they've been brought up that way, and they see 'god' as a natural extension of themselves; they think of themselves as intelligent so it naturally feels logical to them that a god created them and their surroundings rather than billions of years of evolution.

In contrast, the atheist sees a bottom-up solution much more reasonable and evidence-based.

My question is whether my phrasing of this 'ultimate cosmological question' is the correct or best way to put it? Have I missed any other possibilities, or am I barking up the wrong tree? Thoughts?

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Space Sex Fantasies Ruined!

Apparently, space can give you erectile dysfunction. I now know why John Glenn was so cranky when he punched that reporter. Now let us all Give Thanks for the fact that most future astronauts will be women. It's Thanksgiving, after all.

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Netherlands Jumps Right

As Geert Wilders' far-right anti-migrant party takes the biggest share of the vote in the general election.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/geert...b0c91d8279840e

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It was sixty years ago today...

...that somebody shot JFK. But who?

Note: Wait for the poll! Multiple choice, because everyone may have been in on it!

Edit: The pool, er, poll is open, have at it!

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Large Vehicle Explosion at Niagara Falls US/Canada Border Crossing

There has been a large vehicle explosion at the Rainbow Bridge, a heavily used bridge/border crossing between the United States and Canada near Niagara Falls.

FoxNews is reporting unnamed sources are saying it was an attempted terrorist attack and two people, both in the vehicle, are dead. Other news agencies aren't running with that yet. Still very early, limited details.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/22/us/ni...dge/index.html

https://www.foxnews.com/us/ny-vehicl...-falls-injured

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The next Pandemic?

Just something to keep an eye on!

Quote:

UNDIAGNOSED PNEUMONIA - CHINA: (BEIJING, LIAONING) CHILDREN, REPORTED EPIDEMIC, REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ************************************************** ************************************************** *** A ProMED-mail post http://www.promedmail.org ProMED-mail is a program of the International Society for Infectious Diseases http://www.isid.org Date: Tue 21 Nov 2023 17:37 CST Source: FTV News [in Chinese, machine trans., abridged, edited] https://www.ftvnews.com.tw/news/detail/2023B21I19M1 With the outbreak of pneumonia in China, children's hospitals in Beijing, Liaoning and other places were overwhelmed with sick children, and schools and classes were on the verge of suspension. Parents questioned whether the authorities were covering up the epidemic. In the early morning, Beijing Children's Hospital was still overcrowded with parents and children whose children had pneumonia and came to seek treatment. Mr. [W], a Beijing citizen: "Many, many are hospitalized. They don't cough and have no symptoms. They just have a high temperature (fever) and many develop pulmonary nodules." The situation in Liaoning Province is also serious. The lobby of Dalian Children's Hospital is full of sick children receiving intravenous drips. There are also queues of patients at the traditional Chinese medicine hospitals and the central hospitals. A staff member of Dalian Central Hospital said: "Patients have to wait in line for 2 hours, and we are all in the emergency department and there are no general outpatient clinics." Some school classes have even been canceled completely. Not only are all students sick, but teachers are also infected with pneumonia. ... Mr. [W], a Beijing citizen: "Now you are not allowed to report to school. If you have any symptoms such as fever, cold, cough and then you are hospitalized, you can ask for leave..." Since China stopped adhering to the "zero" policy at the beginning of the year [2023], epidemics such as influenza, mycoplasma, and bronchopneumonia have broken out from time to time. ... -- Communicated by: ProMED Rapporteur Dan Silver [This report suggests a widespread outbreak of an undiagnosed respiratory illness in several areas in China as Beijing and Liaoning are almost 800 km apart. It is not at all clear when this outbreak started as it would be unusual for so many children to be affected so quickly. The report does not say that any adults were affected suggesting some exposure at the schools. ProMED awaits more definitive information about the etiology and scope of this concerning illness in China. It is too early to project whether this could be another pandemic but as a wise influenza virologist once said to me "The pandemic clock is ticking, we just do not know what time it is." ProMED thanks Dan Silver for the post. - Mod. LL

https://promedmail.org/promed-post/?id=8713261

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Plan B - Don't Drink & Drive!

Here in NSW, Australia, the state government has a safety push on to cut down on drink driving.

https://towardszero.nsw.gov.au/plan-b

However, being Oz idiots, some people sorta get this a bit wrong and take things too far. But here's a doozy: drunk guy decides not to get a taxi or Uber, and hitches a ride by hanging under a parked semi-trailer. Intending only to go about 50 kms home to his town just up the highway, he ended up over 400 kms away in another state. When he finally crawls out, the local coppers fine him, but have a few laughs too.

Quote:

The man told them he was from the Sunshine Coast but had travelled from Coffs Harbour after he “got a lift with a truck driver”. “You’ve had a big session, lost all control, ended up here somehow and now you’ve got to try and work your way back?” an officer asked. “Pretty much,” the man replied. “Well, that’s a good session,” the officer said. The officers looked stunned when the man told them he travelled in the truck’s undercarriage. “So you are actually underneath the truck, going 110km/h or whatever – no wonder you are anxious, you’re not allowed to do that,” an officer said. Another officer could be heard laughing when the man explained he hoped to jump out at Coffs Harbour but the truck driver “got a green light the whole way through and never stopped until here”.

https://www.theguardian.com/australi...and-gold-coast

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Would Professor X be a vegetarian?

Or, to generalise things, if a person could read minds of any kind or at least detect the presence of sentience/self-awareness/emotions in other animals, would/should they be vegetarian?

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What are "Family Values"?

This is one of these terms that are supposed to end any discussion, be it on matters of gender equality, LGBTQ rights, social welfare, education and everything else that is for some reason very political right now.

And yet, just like "Judeo-Christian Values", it's a term that is almost never defined, and when it is, there is no indication why it would be specific to the family/religious history.

Can someone help me explain:

- what Family Values are
- why they are beneficial (or even essential) to the welfare of individuals and society as a whole?

thanks!

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Letter to America by Bin Laden and Tik Tok

So, I realize its a bit of a moral panic on the right currently but its a panic about an actual concerning thing. The Tik Tok post of kids saying how Bin Laden's letter to america blew their mind.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/...k-context.html

Has anyone actually read it? Its a mix of valid criticism, rabid anti-semitism and puritanical crazy. Mostly the last two. And its not like the valid criticism is new or unique to Bin Laden, lots of folks who don't hate the Jews and gays have said similar things. Are these kids trolls or just stupid?

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Don't buy bargain SanDisk external SSD.

https://petapixel.com/2023/11/13/san...nesses-report/

There are many reports that SanDisk external SSDs are failing and losing all data. This link says it is due to poor quality in the manufacturing process.

WD owns SanDisk. WD has been trying to clear stock at bargain prices. They should be recalling all of them.

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Former First Lady Rosalyn Carter passed away

Sad day, Former First Lady Rosalyn Carter passed away today at the age of 96.

Wasn't sure where to post this news.

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GPU for Christmas

Thinking of getting a GPU for Christmas.

For reference, my current build:

AMD Ryzen 7 5700G with Radeon Graphics (3.8 Ghz)
32 gb RAM
MSI B550 Tomahawk motherboard
750 watt power supply

The on-board graphics have been surprisingly good. My "old man" games (Obduction and Firmament) play at near the highest settings.

My son played Star Wars Jedi Survivor with lower graphics settings but it was still very playable and cool looking.

But we would like to upgrade, courtesy of Mr. Claus. I am looking at these two GPUs:

https://www.microcenter.com/product/...hics-card?ob=1

and

https://www.microcenter.com/product/...hics-card?ob=1

and

https://www.microcenter.com/product/...hics-card?ob=1

The main issue is that I have no idea what to look for. I know that my computer takes PCIe 4.0, I know that 16 gb ram is more than 8 gb and I'm (pretty sure) that my 750 watt power supply is enough. I'm not that much of an idiot.

But I really have no idea what the performance difference is between this or that GPU, or how much better they would be than the on-board graphics (which, as I say are better than I expected).

This forum was very helpful when I initially first put together the computer. I really appreciated and I'm hoping for it will happen again with the GPU shopping.

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Singularities

I have been thinking about singularities, classically it is the noiseless big bang as the first in line. But we are all the last domino in a sequence after that incident.
My hierarchy is
1. The big bang.
2. The first self replicating organism.
3. Consciousness.
4. Language.

I am open to additions to this list though subtraction would puzzle me.
I consider agreed facts to be the foundation for sensible discussions.

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FIXED. Why I don't vote for Republicans for Congress or the Senate.

Posting again. Fixed the link

Sharing why I don't vote for Republicans for Congress or the Senate. BTW, I actually use to work for a Republican congressmen and a Republican mayor. (Late 70s, early 80s)

There are many reasons why I will not vote for Republicans in Congress. In the past it was simply because they were against the middle class and the poor. The GOP has always been against programs like Medicare, Social Security and a minimum wage. They oppose education and support for scientific research

My reasoning has grown. Today it is now actively opposing Church State separation. It is also brazenly supporting deceit, misinformation and fascism.

But today I watched Congresswoman Katie Porter of California in this 5 minute video.
It clearly demonstrates why I vote for Democrats over Republicans. This happened 5 months ago so maybe you have seen it. But I had never seen it. The linked is fixed. Please watch all the way through.

[YT]siFkEWcra10?si=_ORCB4VYpOCOT3oj[/YT]

Why do you vote the way you do?

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Why I don't vote for Republicans for Congress or the Senate.

There are many reasons why I will not vote for Republicans. In the past it was simply because they were against the middle class and the poor. The GOP has always been against programs like Medicare, Social Security and a minimum wage. They oppose education and support for scientific research

My reasoning has grown. Today it is now actively opposing Church State separation. It is also brazenly supporting deceit, misinformation and fascism.

But today I watched Congresswoman Katie Porter of California in this 5 minute video clearly demonstrate why I vote for Democrats over Republicans. This happened 5 months ago so maybe you have seen it. But I had never seen it.

Why do you vote the way you do?


[YT]siFkEWcra10?si=EEb0knV6ooWcZMBC[/YT]

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Can't charge USB power pack

I've got a 10000mAh powerpack from Tomax. This company appears to do branded gift type stuff, and the battery pack is just one of the items. https://www.tomaxusa.com/PC-Ten-Thousand-PC10000.html

But because it's just a rebadge (I assume), they don't have any sort of downloadable manuals.

My powerpack won't charge. I rarely use it, but I remember (back when I had the manual), I was able to reset it and it worked (once). Now when I plug it in, it shows the battery charge on a screen and flashes a number, but the number never changes. I can use it to charge my phone, but I seem to have no way to get it to charge back up.

Anyone know a way to tell what the real manufacturer for one of these is so perhaps I can find a manual for it? (I've tried 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5-clicking the power button. I've tried holding it down for more than 60 seconds (both when the charge is displayed and when it's not), doing all of those when it's "charging").

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What if money expired?

"A long-forgotten German economist argued that society and the economy would be better off if money was a perishable good. Was he an anarchist crank or the prophet of a better world?"

https://www.noemamag.com/what-if-mon...tm_source=digg

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Online Neurodivergence Ecosystems

"For Teen Girls, Rare Psychiatric Disorders Spread Like Viruses on Social Media

Researchers argue that a massive sudden spread of unusual psychiatric problems follows the pattern of “psychosomatic social contagion.”"

https://www.madinamerica.com/2023/11...-social-media/

Quote:

TikTok’s “sick-role subculture” leads to children taking on the characteristics of rare psychiatric diagnoses, according to an article in Comprehensive Psychiatry. Kids—especially teenage girls—are presenting with self-described Tourette’s, eating disorders, autism, and dissociative identity disorder (DID)—but suddenly, and in a way that doesn’t match how these diagnoses have previously been identified.

Quote:

“There has been a recognition of vast online ‘neurodivergence’ ecosystem in which classical mental illness symptoms and diagnoses are viewed less as mental health concerns that require professional attention, but rather as consumer identities or character traits that make individuals sharper and more interesting than others around them,” the researchers write.

I've come across DID groups online that reaffirm the poster's (self- or otherwise) diagnosis. I've also seen three people self-diagnose ADHD, though they have had some contact with psychologists, just not official final diagnoses.

Has anyone else noticed a trend towards self-diagnosis and a drift contrary to the stigma formerly associated with mental illness?

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Christian Nationalism

Given Mike Johnson was elected speaker and he is a Christian nationalist I started to wonder more specifically what policies the Christian nationalists would push if elected to a majority. Belonging to some atheist organizations I have seen some take action requests/legislative alerts etc. I’m just trying to wrap my head around what are the specific threats to freedom of belief or non-belief and how far they might go.

There are a number of newspaper articles but I found this Washington Post article helpful.

There are some obvious things they would do immediately if they had the power:

• Federal government declare the US is a Christian nation
• National ban on abortions

There are other policy goals they seem to have but are vague and seem to vary among Christian groups

• Federal government openly advocate for Christian values (and I see the problem with this in defining who’s Christian values - Pentecostal, Baptist, Catholic?)
• Churches allowed to veto legislation (Who’s church? Would they try to amend the constitution to make it possible?)
• Require and oath to Christianity for leadership positions

I find the prospect of what Christian nationalists doing if they gain control pretty scary. At the same time, I do believe they have a long way to go to get this kind of control.

How far would they go?

I could see where if they got control it would be incremental. Smaller things at first until power could be consolidated. Or would they end up following apart under sectarian divides?

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Douglass Mackey

Douglass Mackey is to do 7 months prison for suggesting H Clinton could be voted for by txt in 2016

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ee-speech.html

Here is the Tucker Carlson interview

https://twitter.com/TuckerCarlson/st...43gwcEc4A&s=19

Prison will let him read 1984, he will emerge a better man.
Lol

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The trial of David McBride

This is very interesting at a number of levels and with very high stakes. He will be the first Australian to be tried as a result of the Afghanistan War and preliminary court proceedings have commenced in Canberra.

A bit of background on McBride. He is a former British Army major and Australian Army lawyer. He provided information to the national broadcaster, the ABC detailing war crimes by Australian soldiers in Afghanistan. The allegations were investigated and Major Brereton found the allegations “credible”, but no legal action has yet been commenced against the suspected war criminals. Instead, the government has gone after the whistle blower. He faces 50 years in prison.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_...(whistleblower)

Quote:

In September 2018, McBride was charged with the theft of Commonwealth property contrary to s 131(1) of the Criminal Code Act 1995; in March 2019 he was charged with a further four offences: three of breaching s 73A(1) of the Defence Act 1903; and another of "unlawfully disclosing a Commonwealth document contrary to s 70(1) of the Crimes Act 1914".[11][12][13][14][15] McBride pleaded not guilty to each of the charges at a 30 May 2019 preliminary hearing and is awaiting trial.[11][16] His legal team includes Nick Xenophon and Mark Davis.[2][17]

There is no dispute that he provided the classified information, but I have seen no evidence or even commentary that serving officers were put at risk.

Nuremberg has already been invoked:

Quote:

The barrister acting for defence whistleblower David McBride has told a judge that merely obeying orders “ignores Nuremberg” in arguing his client was duty-bound to leak confidential material relating to war crimes investigations to the media.

There is already conjecture that “Jury Nullification” could occur, which as far as I can tell has never been confirmed to have happened in Australia.

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/f...14-p5ejrs.html

There are many things that do not sit well with me, most notably that disgraced Victoria Cross recipient Ben Robert’s-Smith has not yet been charged, and may not be. In a defamation trial brought by Robert’s-Smith, the judge found he killed four Afghan non-combatants.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Roberts-Smith

So a big trial by Australian standards and I will post updates as it proceeds.

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Robots taking people’s jobs—examples

World's First AI-Powered Humanoid Robot CEO Enters the Boardroom

Quote:

As concerns rise about robots and artificial intelligence (AI) taking over the workforce, the world’s first humanoid robot has been given the corner office as one company’s new CEO. Mika is the brainchild of a collaboration between Hanson Robotics and Polish rum company Dictador. This CEO robot isn't just a technological marvel; she has been programmed to embody the distinctive spirit and core values of Dictador. "I don't really have weekends — I'm always on 24/7, ready to make executive decisions and stir up some AI magic," the robot told Reuters in a "video interview" at the time.

OK, I know. I’m not that gullible. This is clearly a gimmick. I’m sure that if someone were to examine the company charter and whatever legal documents define who the actual decision-maker(s) are, they would find that the robot does not have actual legal authority or legal standing as a salaried employee.

But there have been and will be actual people who are either replaced or made redundant or obsolete by technology in coming years. Things already look somewhat dire in my own industry, translation. I still have a job and I haven’t heard any rumors about layoffs coming up but it does make me worry about the future. There’s a new trend called MTPE, which stands for machine translation plus editing. As an editor I think nobody is yet confident enough to say that we don’t even need a human being to check this and make sure that there’s no glaring errors. But in 5 years, who knows?

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Defending a Bullying Victim While White

Jonathan Lewis stood up for a smaller friend of his who had something stolen by a group of 15 underprivileged (allegedly) teens before being attacked, beaten and stomped to death outside of his high school.

Article here.

Synchronized videos showing the first punch, the subsequent stomping and one of Jonathan's friends also being attacked while trying to prevent him from being murdered.

I understand this does not come close to the severity of some karen calling the police on a black man after he threatened her in a park, but I thought it deserved its own thread.

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Sueing the Government when you are actually in the wrong

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-...saga/103097104

I have seen this in other cases as well. Someone does something dangerously illegal, the government reacts appropriately but the 'victim' sues them successfully.

In this case a woman died of food poisoning after eating commercially prepared food. The government took samples and ordered the business to stop all activities.

The tests showed the presence of Listeria.

A council inspection found a slug on a wall.

The business sued on the basis that the government was too hasty on shutting down the business and won that the process was flawed. However, no damages were awarded.

The government didn't wait for the test results before shutting down the business.

[emoji849]

The business claims the slug was planted.

[emoji849]

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Today's Republicans are not "conservatives".

From Wikipedia:

Quote:

Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values.

What are these clowns "preserving"? Mostly they're just tearing down instutions like the US Constitution, and our whole system and institutions of government. Democracy? Pah! They hate it.
All they are for is ancient evils like racism and authoritarianism.

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The Movement

Andrew Rawnsley's review of Nadine Dorries's book The Plot: The Political Assassination of Boris Johnson.

If his summary of the book is accurate, and what I've read elsewhere suggests it is, Mad Nad has really fallen down a very deep rabbit hole - good grief, David Icke commends her!

The big question is, does this thread belong here or in Humour? :confused:

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The cyber attack tracking topic

This could get quite big over time. If the forum lasts that long ;)
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-..._content=other

Major Australian ports shut down by prolonged attack. Australia doesn't manufacture much. It mainly exports dirt and grain. So functioning ports is critical.

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Frank Borman, Apollo astronaut, dies at 95 years old

According to NASA, Frank Borman passed away a few days ago. I just saw this:

https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/na...-frank-borman/

He flew in both the Gemini and Apollo programs, going to moon but not landing. He and his crewmates James Lovell and William Anders were the first humans to see the far side of the moon and photograph the Earth rise.

My thoughts are with his family and friends.

A few years ago I posted in this thread:

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimOfAllTrades (Post 12071635) We're losing the people that went to the moon. I know there were thousands involved, but taking the 24 men who left earth orbit as a measure there are only 14 left. And they range in age from 81 to 89. As much as I hate to say it, another 5 years will probably see most or all of them gone.

I was somewhat wrong, there are eight left. A long lived bunch though. My enormous respect goes to not only the 24 men who flew, but all the astronauts and all the men and women involved in the amazing achievements from the first days of Mercury and on. Some of my early memories are of those first Mercury flights.

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Today we have naming of parrots

The American Ornithological Society intends renaming bird species containing eponyms.

Quote:

Originally Posted by americanornithology.org/about/english-bird-names-project/ The AOS commits to changing all English-language names of birds within its geographic jurisdiction that are named directly after people (eponyms), along with other names deemed offensive and exclusionary, focusing first on those species that occur primarily within the U.S. or Canada.

This has ruffled a lot of feathers. Many birders are concerned about the large number of naturalists so recognised, that are tainted by connection with the slave trade and/or maltreatment if indigenous peoples. On the other hand, lots of birders regard the wholesale changes of eponymous bird names as overkill.

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Another bullet-proof charm test kills a man

I just saw this on BBC World News. I couldn’t get a link out of it, but this is the most important part:

Quote:

A man has been shot dead in Nigeria's north-eastern Bauchi state while a so-called bullet-proof charm - or "gun medicine" - was being tested on him by a traditional healer, police spokesman Ahmed Wakil has said.

Apparently, this happens every now and then, and it makes me wonder if such news do not spread in Nigeria, or why do the potential buyers not ask for a demonstration on the healer, rather than having it tested on themselves?

In any case, I must applaud the healer for actually believing in his stuff. A deliberate fraud would not kill his customers and go to prison in this way.

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Do we have a thread on this year’s (2023) local elections?

Sure there’s no fight for congress, and the Presidency is now a year away, and my own local election consisted of filling in boxes for judges and borough representatives. But that doesn’t mean there weren’t important elections yesterday:

1) Ohio voted overwhelmingly on two measures. One granting the right to abortion and the other legalizing marijuana. Now the GOP dominated Ohio legislature is expected to find ways to delay and limit the implementation of these measures.

2) In Virginia, Governor Youngkin had hoped to secure all parts of the state government so he could start restricting abortion (he had run his campaign saying he would not do so). Polls seemed to indicate he might get his wish. Instead Democrats won control of the general assembly.

Pundits had been convinced that Biden’s dropping poll figures would translate to rejection of the Democratic Party as a whole. But these results are showing that polls may not mean much any more and that when there’s a hot button issue on the line (I.e. abortion) nobody really cares what the President’s policy on the Gaza Strip is.

So anything interesting locally in your region’s elections?

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The Great Telecommunication Outage

Australia's second-largest telecommunications provider, Optus, has been out since 4am this morning (that's 7 and a half hours now for those in other time zones). 10 million individual customers are affected, as well as 100,000 businesses and government services.

Optus has suffered a major nationwide outage. Here's what we know about what happened

Quote:

Millions of customers of Australia's second-largest telecommunications company, Optus, have been hit by an outage of mobile phone and internet services. The outage has also impacted hundreds of thousands of businesses, and has impacted some government services, public health systems and public transport systems. Here's what we know about the outage so far...

This includes the triple-zero service - this is the emergency services number, equivalent to America's 911 and the UK's 999 - which currently cannot receive calls from landlines.

Optus is "really, really sorry" about the outage. Nobody knows how long it will take to restore. It is, apparently, almost certainly not some kind of cyberattack.

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[Continuation] Luton Airport Car Park Fire part II

Continued from here.

Posted By:Agatha

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vixen (Post 14201973) Why do we have to wait for the report. Why cannot we be told what car, model and make it is, now? What is the big need for secrecy?

Who knows? But given that we have not been officially told yet and that we know eventually will be told, I see no reason to guess what the model is.

You seem to be appealing to the best explanation to conclude that the chief is under a gag order coming from the prime minister. But I don't think this is a good explanation for why no official identification of the vehicle was made. It is implausible.

Indeed, the silence could be due to anything at all. There's no rule that the vehicle be identified early on, so I'm not surprised or perplexed that it hasn't been.

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

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2024 Election Thread

Hilarious news today:

Quote:

Trump Leads Biden In 5 Swing States, Per New Polls

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/new-p...b01b2585841f77

Ok, so polling hasn't been very accurate lately, but the Dems should be ******** their pants right now - Biden is too old and doddery, and I think you're going to get another 4 years of Donald J Trump as president. The picture in that article screams that Biden should be in aged care, not the White House. Trump will make him look positively geriatric in the debates.

This time around he'll be out of the gates like a greyhound - he knows how the game works and will be full of hateful energy to start dispensing from day 1.

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Designing the Worst Programming Language Ever

The Worst Programming Language Ever.

Mark Rendle has a try at designing it. If you have an hour to waste. (I watched in a window while I did something useful else.)

[yt]vcFBwt1nu2U[/yt]

But he does miss one construct!

The wonderful ALTERED GO TO from COBOL. If used, it makes the program undebuggable.

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[Continuation] General UK Politics V Suella Strikes Back

Nadine Dorries has done a book and by all appearances it's a riot.

Quote:

Nadine Dorries has claimed in her new book that the Conservatives have been controlled for 20 years by a cabal known as the “movement”, which orchestrated the end of Boris Johnson’s tenure as prime minister. The former culture secretary has alleged the group consists of levelling up secretary Michael Gove, Johnson’s former chief of staff Dominic Cummings and an adviser called Dougie Smith. Dorries, a staunch ally of Johnson, said the cabal ousted the former prime minister and also “brought down Iain Duncan Smith as party leader, created havoc for Theresa May and undermined Liz Truss”. The former MP’s book, The Plot: the Political Assassination, is being serialised in the Mail. According to excerpts in the paper, Dorries wrote that after Johnson made Cummings his chief of staff, the so-called “movement” instigated its plan to replace the prime minister after his December 2019 election victory as he had already served his purpose by winning an 80-seat majority.

The Guardian: Dorries claims Tory cabal called the ‘movement’ brought down Johnson

Continued from http://www.internationalskeptics.com...d.php?t=366022

Posted By:jimbob

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[Continuation] General Israel/Palestine discussion thread - Part 4

Quote:

Originally Posted by webfusion (Post 14199642) Leumas, you keep posting extremely long videos (some over an hour in duration) and let me just make mention that I'm kinda busy (like probably most of us here), and if you could summarize these for us, it would allow proper discussions to progress. TIA.

I'm not sure the progress of proper discussion is the idea here. I think the idea is that the video is supposed to supersede any discussion. You don't need to have a proper discussion; there's already an hour's worth of proper discussion that resolves the whole thing. So you can stop thinking now, stop discussing now, just consume the video to receive enlightenment from the proper discussion that others have already completed for you.

Leumas doesn't need to have a proper discussion with you. He's already consumed the video of other people having the discussion. It has already instilled Correct Thought in him. All he's asking is that you do the same, so that you and he can think the same, without any more discussion being required.

Continued from http://www.internationalskeptics.com...d.php?t=306886

Posted By:jimbob

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Pyramid Older than Civilization

Very interesting if confirmed.

Buried pyramid in Indonesia may be older than civilization itself

Quote:

New dating suggests structure at Gunung Padang was built during the last ice age, making it millennia older than the Great Pyramids.

More details here:

Digging for the truth at controversial megalithic site

There is some dispute:

Quote:

But these views are loudly disputed. A petition signed in April by 34 Indonesian archaeologists and geologists and submitted to Yudhoyono agrees that the upper part of Gunung Padang is ''the largest megalithic structure in south-east Asia'', but the experts are deeply suspicious of the Arif team's methods and motives, and the geological flag-waving it is trying to invoke.

Research continues. ;)

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Elite Sydney school declares accused murderer a good bloke.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-...tter/103062628

When do these massively public funded private schools bother to get decent PR advice?

Quote:

An elite Sydney school headmaster calling Lilie James's suspected murderer "an absolute delight" and "not a monster" has shocked a prominent domestic violence awareness advocate.

Just shut the **** up you privileged ****.

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Mark Meadows legal problems growing while MAGA support has eroded

Mark Meadows has generally been the smartest of Trump's co-defendants. It looks as if he might be able to avoid criminal conviction without giving up too much. Everyone thought he was crazy taking the stand trying to have his case removed from the Georgia State. But he said nothing he hadn't already said to the January 6th committee where he had been granted use immunity. That means nothing he said to the committee could be used in any way by any government authority. So even if he is convicted in Georgia, there is a very good possibility his conviction will be overturned on Appeal.

Still, he is facing trial there which will cost him money in legal bills at the very least.

But today, we find out Meadows is being sued by his book publisher because he lied in his book. In the book Meadows claimed that Trump won the election. But this is contradicted by his testimony to the January 6th committee.

His publisher says this news caused sales to crater. And because they expected sales to the MAGA faithful they paid him a handsome advance. They want thir money back.

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Mushroom killer arrested

https://www.theguardian.com/australi...droidApp_Other

Erin Patterson arrested for suspected murder of three with poisoned Beef Wellington.

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White Hydrogen Depoits Found

Quote:

They Went Hunting For Fossil Fuels by Laura Paddison A couple of hundred meters down, the probe found low concentrations of hydrogen. “This was not a real surprise for us,” Pironon told CNN; it’s common to find small amounts near the surface of a borehole. But as the probe went deeper, the concentration ticked up. At 1,100 meters down it was 14%, at 1,250 meters it was 20%. This was surprising, Pironon said. It indicated the presence of a large reservoir of hydrogen beneath. They ran calculations and estimated the deposit could contain between 6 million and 250 million metric tons of hydrogen. That could make it one of the largest deposits of “white hydrogen” ever discovered, Pironon said. The find has helped fuel an already feverish interest in the gas. White hydrogen – also referred to as “natural,” “gold” or “geologic” hydrogen – is naturally produced or present in the Earth’s crust and has become something of a climate holy grail. ... Ellis estimates globally there could be tens of billions of tons of white hydrogen. This would be vastly more than the 100 million tons a year of hydrogen that is currently produced and the 500 million tons predicted to be produced annually by 2050, he said. “Most of this is almost certainly going to be in very small accumulations or very far offshore, or just too deep to actually be economic to produce,” he said. But if just 1% can be found and produced, it would provide 500 million tons of hydrogen for 200 years, he added.

Two grams of hydrogen releases 291.83 kilojoules per mole, about
0.08 kilowatt hours. So, if we replace half the energy used by mankind,
let's say coal and natural gas, then we need 80,000 terawatt hours.
You need two billion tons per year. Well, maybe a small contribution then.

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Help, massive virus problem

So my laptop has a trojan, apparently. Malwarebytes keeps isolating files saying they're trojans and I'm getting an alert that it's blocked a website every couple of seconds. I've attempted to wipe and reset the system but every time I try it says there's a problem and won't do it. Does anyone have any suggestions that might help me other than buy a new laptop?

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Is Putin "dead"?

Seems rumors are flying that Putin has croaked over the weekend and been replaced by a body double, ah la Paul McCartney in the late 60's.
Could it be true?
Enquirering minds want to know!

Quote:

Originally Posted by RadarOnline A Kremlin source alleged that Vladimir Putin died over the weekend, and a body double has been officially recognized as the president of Russia, RadarOnline.com has learned.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world...ay/ar-AA1jaGGz

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